News this morning that they've closed two schools within 5 minutes of us due to suspected cases of the swine flu. This has me contemplating the interconnectedness of it all. There are schoolmates of my kids who have siblings at both the closed schools. And although of course a kid's closest contacts are with his or her classmates, they all play soccer or baseball or go to church youth group or scouts with kids from all over. It's like a giant connected real-life Facebook. We're all friends of friends of friends when it comes right down to it. And though thankfully cases seem mild, they're going to be popping up all over the city. It would be hard to keep track of which schools are closed, except for the fact that I believe they'll end up closing the whole district.
So when will my kids' school close? My money was on next week, but I'm now thinking tomorrow. My children of course are 'devastated' if by devastated you mean looking forward to watching cartoons and playing video games.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Swine Flu
When my youngest son was nineteen months old, he caught pneumonia. He had had a slight cold, but I didn't want him to miss a birthday party, so I took him to the party at the Children's Museum. It was typically crowded, and we spent a good hour playing in the Tot Spot, where the three-and-under crowd congregate. You know the ones that drool all over everything? I suspect that his immune system was slightly weakened from the cold, and the pneumonia-causing bacteria was then able to go straight to his lungs.
He seemed fairly sick. He had a high fever and I took him to the pediatrician. But I was surprised by the pneumonia diagnosis. He got an antibiotic shot. They called the next day to check on him and I told them he was no better, so he came back in for a second shot. Sometimes it takes more than one, they said. But, really, he didn't improve. We were giving him oral antibiotics and inhaled breathing meds too, but nothing seemed to be working. My pediatrician didn't want to hospitalize him, because the hospital was overcrowded and she'd had a couple of patients pick up other diseases in the hospital. So we were trying to manage him at home.
I remember listening to him breathe that Friday night and thinking he was just so ill....I almost took him to the hospital in the middle of the night, but we waited until the morning and took him to the dr.'s office. The pedi on call listened to him, checked his pulse-ox and sent us straight to the hospital. I still didn't think it was that serious, until when we were checking in and they didn't get all our insurance info--they sent us straight back to the respiratory unit and said they'd find us later. At 11:00 that night he had emergency surgery to drain his lung of the accumulated fluid. This operation saved his life and I am hugely grateful to everyone who was willing to open an operating suite in the middle of the night to save our son because he couldn't wait until the morning. After this, we spent a week in Texas Childrens Hospital and were released right before Christmas.
Each day he improved, although he was on five different spectrum antibiotics to knock out the superbug. He had somehow managed to pick up an antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria, which is why he never responded to the original medication. My father, a practicing pulmonologist for over 35 years, had never seen a case himself, but his grandchild managed to pick up the wrong toy at the wrong time.
The news this morning that a 23 month old has died here in Texas from Swine Flu has stirred these memories. I've been that parent, watching your child struggle to breathe and feeling so helpless. Our story had a happy ending, but if we had waited any longer to go to the hospital, it might have been too late.
There's no real lesson here for swine flu, other than if you feel run down or sick, you probably should stay out of large crowds. I think you're just more vulnerable when your immune system is slightly repressed. And to seek medical help promptly.
He seemed fairly sick. He had a high fever and I took him to the pediatrician. But I was surprised by the pneumonia diagnosis. He got an antibiotic shot. They called the next day to check on him and I told them he was no better, so he came back in for a second shot. Sometimes it takes more than one, they said. But, really, he didn't improve. We were giving him oral antibiotics and inhaled breathing meds too, but nothing seemed to be working. My pediatrician didn't want to hospitalize him, because the hospital was overcrowded and she'd had a couple of patients pick up other diseases in the hospital. So we were trying to manage him at home.
I remember listening to him breathe that Friday night and thinking he was just so ill....I almost took him to the hospital in the middle of the night, but we waited until the morning and took him to the dr.'s office. The pedi on call listened to him, checked his pulse-ox and sent us straight to the hospital. I still didn't think it was that serious, until when we were checking in and they didn't get all our insurance info--they sent us straight back to the respiratory unit and said they'd find us later. At 11:00 that night he had emergency surgery to drain his lung of the accumulated fluid. This operation saved his life and I am hugely grateful to everyone who was willing to open an operating suite in the middle of the night to save our son because he couldn't wait until the morning. After this, we spent a week in Texas Childrens Hospital and were released right before Christmas.
Each day he improved, although he was on five different spectrum antibiotics to knock out the superbug. He had somehow managed to pick up an antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria, which is why he never responded to the original medication. My father, a practicing pulmonologist for over 35 years, had never seen a case himself, but his grandchild managed to pick up the wrong toy at the wrong time.
The news this morning that a 23 month old has died here in Texas from Swine Flu has stirred these memories. I've been that parent, watching your child struggle to breathe and feeling so helpless. Our story had a happy ending, but if we had waited any longer to go to the hospital, it might have been too late.
There's no real lesson here for swine flu, other than if you feel run down or sick, you probably should stay out of large crowds. I think you're just more vulnerable when your immune system is slightly repressed. And to seek medical help promptly.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Gawdelpus!
I have a Kindle which I adore. I am absolutely not a ga-ga gadget person (cue theme music from Inspector Gadget). I like having a cell phone, because I like to be able to stay in contact and order take-out from the road. But I don't need a cell phone that can do anything other than dial and receive calls (of course, mine has a few more bells and whistles because the husband picked it out).
But the Kindle 2? I just love it (as does the gadget boy I'm married to). If I need something to read for a few minutes between when I arrive at the kids' school to pick them up (must get there early as parking is a mess) and when they get out, it remembers just where I am. There are all these little slots of time in my day that now can be filled with a good story. If I feel like reading something other than the book I have with me, I can quickly call up a different book.
I like to buy short stories, because I read them at the gym. One or two stories (depending on the author) is just about perfect and usually I keep up my workout to finish that story. Luckily, Amazon.com has some reasonable classic fiction--I've gotten books by Isaac Asimov and Kate Chopin for a mere $1.00. There are some really great classic works that somehow I've never gotten around to reading...so I'm enjoying sampling these books.
Today at the Y, I was reading a short story by Peter Tremayne, author of the Sister Fidelma series (which I really like). This particular set of stories feature other characters though. Sister Fidelma is Tremayne's bread-and-butter, and he knows it, but he mentions his great understanding of how Conan Doyle felt. Sometimes you just want to write about something else.
Anyway, in one of the stories, the lead detective is Charles Dickens. And he uses the phrase gawdelpus, which is a mishmash of god help us. I just love it and I think I'm going to be dropping it into my speech from here on out.
Aside: My son's team won the Texas tournament, so it means we're getting ready to go to Iowa at the end of school for the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals. It's a great achievement, and one they've been working towards for four years. The logistical prep has required a lot of time, and what with taxes due and other stuff, I've been swamped. Meaning, I'm not always in my regular haunts...so if you need me, gmail me. Gawdelpus.
But the Kindle 2? I just love it (as does the gadget boy I'm married to). If I need something to read for a few minutes between when I arrive at the kids' school to pick them up (must get there early as parking is a mess) and when they get out, it remembers just where I am. There are all these little slots of time in my day that now can be filled with a good story. If I feel like reading something other than the book I have with me, I can quickly call up a different book.
I like to buy short stories, because I read them at the gym. One or two stories (depending on the author) is just about perfect and usually I keep up my workout to finish that story. Luckily, Amazon.com has some reasonable classic fiction--I've gotten books by Isaac Asimov and Kate Chopin for a mere $1.00. There are some really great classic works that somehow I've never gotten around to reading...so I'm enjoying sampling these books.
Today at the Y, I was reading a short story by Peter Tremayne, author of the Sister Fidelma series (which I really like). This particular set of stories feature other characters though. Sister Fidelma is Tremayne's bread-and-butter, and he knows it, but he mentions his great understanding of how Conan Doyle felt. Sometimes you just want to write about something else.
Anyway, in one of the stories, the lead detective is Charles Dickens. And he uses the phrase gawdelpus, which is a mishmash of god help us. I just love it and I think I'm going to be dropping it into my speech from here on out.
Aside: My son's team won the Texas tournament, so it means we're getting ready to go to Iowa at the end of school for the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals. It's a great achievement, and one they've been working towards for four years. The logistical prep has required a lot of time, and what with taxes due and other stuff, I've been swamped. Meaning, I'm not always in my regular haunts...so if you need me, gmail me. Gawdelpus.
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